Lead Me
by RedPoisonedApple
Summary: She was never much - to anyone. Misunderstood and cast out. Whereas he has two worlds to call home. Thor wants to prove to the Avengers' newest member that sometimes you have to go through the dark, to be led into the light. - Thor/OC.


Summary: She was never much - to anyone. Misunderstood and cast out. Whereas he has two worlds to call home. Thor wants to prove to the Avengers' newest member that sometimes you have to go through the dark, to be led into the light. - Thor/OC.

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**LEAD ME**

An Avengers Fanfic

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"Mission _Nab The Midget_ is underway."

"I am prepared to take down this villainous Midget."

"Enough, you two."

Steve, Tony, and Thor, who would've thunk things would have come to this; but the girl they were seeking, the five-foot-three, one hundred and fifteen pounds worth of trouble had S.H.I.E.L.D's Director knee-deep in stress, and it was time to send in the 'Big Guns'. Frankly, Tony was offended by the task; how someone as omnipotent and brilliant as he could go from saving the world from Loki's alien-monkeys... to tracking down a little girl. Well, Tony had read her file. And she might have been little, but she was turning nineteen, and she packed a serious punch.

In complete and total honesty, the girl had the capabilities of being as brutish as the mighty Thor, and she'd been under S.H.I.E.L.D's radar for years.

"There he goes again," Tony resisted the urge to fling a withering look of low regard Steve's way. Instead, Tony pushed his sunglasses up further to his coffee-colored eyes, and turned down an inconspicuous street. The small, Virginia town was everything Tony hates: innocent, quiet, severely lacking in originality or character. He's not surprised this girl - or mutant- was losing her senses in this place. Fury had said she was a possible threat, but an undeniable asset if shown the proper path to take. That's what they were doing here: coming to relate to her, and let her know her options. "Being Captain Mediator Spangles," finished Tony.

"_Do not_ call me Spangles," Steve said clearly as he lulled his head against the window, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"Spangles."

"I said don't-"

"Spangles."

"Stark-"

"Spangly Spangles."

"Hey!"

"Look, it's not my fault you ended up getting the lamest suit out of all of us. Although, you and Muscle Man may be tied in that race. Isn't that right, Thor?"

Thor, hulking frame taking up the entire back-seat area, had his face plastered against the window, boyish grin being the centerpiece of his blond stubble as he watched a white puppy chase after a little boy down the sidewalk. Thor's chuckling nearly shook the vehicle, "Look at that four-legged creature! Most entertaining indeed."

"God, I need new friends," muttered Tony under his breath, catching sight of the house they were targeting, and shifting the wheel so his sleek Benz could make the smooth, easy glide into the parking lot. Once parked, he cut the engine. The three Avengers emerged from the vehicle, the tallest and least unostentatious of them all being Thor, whose bulky frame, gleaming armor, and brilliantly red cape were all flashing signs of 'weirdo' glued to him. Then you have Steve Rogers in the casual long-sleeved shirt and beige corduroys. Tony raised his sunglasses, critically eying his partners from toe on up, before dropping the shades back to their settled position at the bridge of his nose. "Correction: I need new friends with some serious fashion taste. Thor, do you always wear the same set of armor?"

"I take it this is the house?" asked Steve, approaching the small dwelling in all its average small-town flavor.

"This would be it," drawled Tony, waving at Thor to deter his attention from a nearby lawn sprinkler.

"It's nice."

"It's boring."

"Simplicity is a rarity that should be appreciated, Stark."

"_I'm_ a rarity that should be appreciated. Let's move on now."

Steve rung the doorbell once, Tony and Thor flanking his sides. Patience, a word not used often in Tony's vocabulary, became an issue for the billionaire, as he reached around Steve and pounded a good ten times on the yellow-painted door.

"Do you always have to be so rude?" criticized Steve, side glancing at Tony.

"Kind of, yeah."

"Step aside," The Demi-God shoved through and rammed shoulder first into the door, releasing a rumbling grunt from the base of his throat as he unceremoniously knocked the door off its hinges. He charged inside, pausing to look left and right with a warrior's hunger and intensity.

"Well," said Tony, albeit pleasantly, "I don't know why we just didn't do that sooner."

"Because," came Steve's characteristically stern tone, "We're not here to use force by any means or engage in a fight! We are here to reason with the Mutant Girl."

"Well, you've got her."

Male eyes flickered, taken by the abrupt interruption of an female's unshakeable tone. And there she stood, Thor the closest to her as he was the one who'd barged his way inside.

She was the tiniest maiden he had ever seen, steel glazing over her midnight blue eyes, and her locks of jet-black brushing against the slopes of her small shoulders. Thor's lips parted, words escaping him. There was a subtle truculence, quiet aggression about her and the way she stared hard at him, her shoulders squared and eyes unblinking, nose tipped up without the faintest trace of fear. The top of her head barely reached Thor's chest, and yet she stood her ground.

"You... are the Midget?"

Tony rolled his eyes in the background.

"The what?"

Entering the house and stepping around Thor's clueless being, Tony had already removed his sunglasses and tucked them away, "Look, you'll have to forgive him. He was dropped on the head as baby-"

"You work for the Eye Patch man, don't you?" she questioned, eyes slitting.

"...Not exactly," Steve, smiling sheepishly from leftover embarrassment caused by Thor's actions, finally made his way inside. He had an honest appearance, and didn't carry the attitude of someone who just_ expected_ things of others. "We just, sort of..."

"Clean up his messes," answered Tony, his tone light but critical. He judged with the ease of a devil, and every insult from his lips came doused with sugar.

"We take care of the enemies S.H.I.E.L.D can't handle," answered Steve, "We're part of-"

"This badass team called the Avengers. I'm the leader."

Steve instantly whipped around, disgruntled, "What? We don't have a leader, and if we did, it certainly wouldn't be you!"

And these guys called themselves a team. Right.

"I do not understand," Thor's peculiarly accented and distinctive tone cut through the air, and the girl in the room allowed her head to whip his way, her darker gaze boring into his puzzled and purely innocent one. "Who is this girl? Friend or foe? She is so tiny, I do not wish to fight such an opponent, much less a young maiden-"

Her eyes widened. Not out of fear, but challenge. "Fight?"

"Ma'am, we're not here to hurt you," Steve insisted with a flair of sudden panic; fear that she was getting the wrong idea, and may act out of self-preservation. "Please. Thor's just confused-"

"As always," muttered Tony.

"Then if you're not here to fight me," her eyes still narrowed, she clenched her jaw. Thor was particularly fond of the way her small, fairy nose wrinkled. "It must be another recruitment technique. Well, you all can go right back to where you came from, and let Eye Patch know I'm not swallowing the bullshit he's trying to feed."

"So we are here to feed her, then?"

"No one's fighting, and no one's getting fed anything!" shouted Steve.

"I do not understand-"

"You've said that already," Tony drawled, rubbing his forehead. He could feel a dull ache materializing, throbbing in the area between his temples. "Look, Thor. This is Caressa James. She's a Mutant. She's special. Probably could be one of us, if she wasn't so damn stubborn. I'm as suspicious of Fury as the next guy, but..." Her eyes darkened as they struck Tony's pair of browns that read through her so simply, so easily. "... according to her past, I think I'd trust Fury a little bit more, instead of living like this. Small town, not-so-typical girl. You're going to suffocate here."

"You don't know my life," Caressa harshly spat.

"S.H.I.E.L.D does. S.H.I.E.L.D knows everything. I personally don't care."

"Tell S.H.I.E.L.D," Caressa started venomously, a shine in her eyes resembling moisture, and it stirred something discomforting inside of Thor. Steve softened, as well, not wanting to overwhelm her any further than she apparently was. "To stay the fuck out of my life and to never drop their team of freaks on my door step ever again!"

"Team of-" Tony paused, a disbelieving scoff crumbling his former impassiveness, "Maybe you haven't noticed, but you're every bit of a freak as _we_ are. Maybe even more."

"That is enough, Metal Man," Thor's strong tone filtered over, his muscles considerably relaxed as he spoke, but watched Caressa the entire time. His voice continued carrying the seriousness he was trying to convey to Tony, but looking at Caressa? A daze smoldered over in his eyes of ice blue, like he'd been enchanted. "You have said enough. She is most unsettled by our presence, and your words make matters worse."

Caressa touched her mouth; a nervous habit of hers was to naturally cover her mouth with her hand in such a timid way. Yet her eyes slid up once more to meet Thor's, the understanding he emitted practically rolling off of him and unto her. She felt her body react to his look against her will, every hard ridge in her body instantly turning to jelly. It was an odd sensation. Before she could gather any further thoughts or words, heavy, familiar footsteps approached from behind her.

"Caressa," rolled her father's deep voice, "Who are these men?"

.

.

.

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End of Chapter One.


End file.
